


Finally

by hoogwoorts



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Comfort, Fluff, M/M, Minor Angst, talking about feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-27
Updated: 2016-01-27
Packaged: 2018-05-16 15:17:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5830483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoogwoorts/pseuds/hoogwoorts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Bianca's birthday, and Nico wants to make sure that she isn't forgotten. He still feels bittersweet about it all, but he comes to realize that, for once, everything may be okay.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Finally

**Author's Note:**

> I really wanted to write some emotional connection between Nico and Percy, because I love them being friends. It evolves into some cute solangelo. Enjoy!

It was June 18th, and the weather was seventy degrees and perfect just like it always was in Camp Halfblood. The gentle, late afternoon air laid pleasantly on Nico’s skin as he walked slowly toward the across camp, distractedly kicking the pebbles in his path. Although life couldn’t ever get perfect, really, it was just about as close as it would probably get for Nico. He could never have imagined feeling so unafraid and content just a few short months ago, and now all of the agony and hardship seemed like distant memories. Not that he was without a care in the world, but he certainly felt better. It was getting better.

Nico raised his eyes to look around at the cabins lining the road. The streets were still busy with campers finishing up training in the last minutes of sunlight. Some seemed to be preparing for the evening’s bonfire. He stuck a hand in his pants pocket and his fingers curled around the small figurine inside; he made his decision.

Directing his steps back toward his own cabin, he tried to think back to whether he had any galleons lying around. He was pretty sure he had some left from his last paycheck from helping out in sword training. He’d needed to find jobs around camp, since he had nowhere else to live and he would rather not become a freeloader.

He reached the door and pushed it open, stepping inside to the relatively cooler and darker space of the newly refurbished Hades cabin. It had been up to Nico largely to redesign, although he had asked for some help from Annabeth since she at least had some architectural knowledge. The color scheme was predictably centered around blacks and silvers, but it somehow didn’t seem depressing; it was elegant. Apart from the occasional skull themed pattern, the furniture wasn’t too focused on the Hades theme; it was eloquently carved with cool patterns of silver and otherwise completely ordinary, with normal beds, desks, and wardrobes. Maybe it was only a result of spending so much time in the Underworld, but it actually seemed pretty homely to Nico.

He dug around in one of the drawers and extracted a spray bottle and one golden drachma, then pulled open the curtains to let in the glowy sunshine still drifting around outside. Luckily, it seemed that he wasn’t too late to muster up enough rainbow for a message. Continually spraying the bottle and concentrating on the hints of rainbow, he threw the drachma in.

“Oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering. Show me Thalia Grace.”

Nico had absolutely no idea where the hunter of Artemis could possibly be located, so he hoped that Iris would be able to find her with only that. The coin successfully vanished into the rainbow, and after only a few seconds, Thalia’s face swam into view. She was crouching in what looked like a large jumble of bushes and weeds, a few scratches on her cheek and jaw, her eyes set ahead of her.

“Uh, hey Thalia, um, is this a bad time?” Nico awkwardly began. He should have realized he’d be interrupting something.

She startled for a second but when she turned and saw Nico her face split into a broad grin. “Hey Nico! Nah, it’s cool. We were about to settle down for the night anyway. What’s up?”

Nico heard a voice hiss from somewhere behind her. “Are you messaging a  _ guy? _ ”

Oh, right. Nico had also forgotten that they technically were supposed to avoid contact with men as much as possible. His face was starting to burn and he was itching to just swipe through the connection, but Thalia was already talking.

“He’s cool. Bianca’s brother, remember? I’m gonna take this.” She turned her attention back to him. “So how’s it hangin’ Nico? You look like you’re doing better.”

“Yeah,” Nico allowed his nerves to relax again. She was the leader after all, behind Artemis herself. “It’s been really good actually.”

“Cool.” She let her posture relax and slumped back against a nearby tree. “We’ve been trying to hunt this critter down for weeks, and I swear at this point it’s personal. I am going to wring that thing’s neck with my bare hands, gods.” She huffed in frustration.

“Oh, sorry to interrupt, then.”

“Nah, like I said we were about to take a break anyway. So you just call to say hi and catch up?”

“Actually, well… I just wanted to let you know, because, I mean.” Nico sighed, he didn’t want to immediately go into a depressing note but he did at least need to mention it. “This was Bianca’s birthday.”

There was a moment of silence as Thalia tried to look as consoling as possible, although it clearly wasn’t her forte.

“I see… well, um, how’re you holding up?”

“I’m fine, actually. Just wanted to kind of, get in touch with the people who knew her, you know? Because I just really don’t want to forget, and don’t want her to be forgotten, and there’s really not that many people left, you know, who knew her, because of the whole time jump and everything, and I don’t know I just want to take this day, I guess, and make sure I don’t forget. ‘Cause I mean I was ten, you know? I was pretty young and I don’t even remember my mom… But anyway, so I thought maybe I’d just get in touch with you, and pray to my dad some, and maybe talk to Percy I guess…”

“Ah, I totally get it, yeah. She was really great, and one of the bravest people I’ve ever met. A true huntress.”

Nico nodded and hugged himself, allowing a small smile to cross his lips. “I can’t even remember her favorite color.”

“You know, I think that’s okay, because it’s not the important stuff you know? Everybody who knew her will definitely remember her spirit, especially you. She wouldn’t want you to get hung up.”

“Yeah, yeah I know.” Nico was staring down at his shoes, and feeling his eyes get misty despite himself. He had told himself that he wasn’t going to let himself get upset again, because Bianca wouldn’t want it, but it was hard not to whenever he let himself actually think about her. 

“She’d be so proud of you, Nico,” Thalia declared with a smile. “You really managed to pull through.”

“Yeah.” This did make Nico smile, because he was pretty sure she was right. Even if it took him four years, he thought he’d finally followed her advice, and gotten over his fatal flaw, and forgiven Percy and Hades and himself.

“You know, I think I’ll take a moment with the other hunters to remember her. Just have a bit of a moment of silence maybe. It’ll be nice just to hold on to her. How about that?”

“I… thanks, so much. I mean you don’t have to if you don’t want…”

“I want to. She was my friend too, you know.” Thalia gave him a crooked grin. “And definitely a symbol of what it means to be a hunter of Artemis.”

Nico nodded. “Thanks… I should probably let you get back to what you’re doing but thank you. For that and for listening.”

“Anytime, Nico! It’s cool if you ever wanna call and catch up. Or just chat, whatever. I’ll be in touch once we finally nab this thing.”

“Alright, thanks. Bye, Thalia.”

“Catch ya later.” She waved her hand through the connection with a smile, and Nico went to sit back on his bed and pull his knees to his chest.

He closed his eyes and sent a bit of a prayer up to his dad. Even though the chance of Hades actually listening was small, since he had his own business to attend to, Nico just wanted to connect a bit about Bianca. It felt good talking to Thalia, who had at least known her for a little while. 

_ Hey dad, so I just wanted to mention that today is Bianca’s birthday. I was just thinking about her and remembering her… you probably remember her better than me, even. I don’t suppose you could tell me her favorite color or something… oh nevermind it’s not important. But anyway I just wanted to take a moment to talk about her… She was nicer than me, and smarter. And always took care of me even though she was just a little kid. She didn’t seem like one back then, but… Well, anyway. Her favorite food was lasagna. I remember that. And I can picture her face right now… I wish I had a picture, still. I sometimes wonder how she’d feel about me liking guys, but who knows. It’s hard to say.  _

Nico took a moment to ponder that. It had been bothering him more and more lately, as his friends pestered him about guys and reminded him that it was okay to be the way he was. Bianca had grown up in the same time as he had. Would she have felt it was okay? He wished he could ask her.

_ Anyway, I remember her favorite game in the Lotus Hotel was this game where you throw balls into holes… She would play mythomagic with me even though she didn’t really like it, because she knew I did. I guess I remember a lot but it all seems so hazy. I don’t know if you’re the right god to help with that, really, but more than anything I just want to remember. _

He had no idea if Hades actually heard any of that but he felt a little better getting it out just the same. Now Nico thought about who else to contact. There were only two other people alive, Nico realized that actually got a chance to know her: Grover and Percy. Nico contemplated sending Grover a message to wherever he was at the moment, but honestly Nico couldn’t remember ever really talking to the satyr. Plus, he was all about the preservation of life, and Nico was kind of the son of the god of death. Since Nico was already inclined toward a bit of social anxiety, as he was just getting used to not being rejected, Nico really didn’t feel like giving Grover a call. So that left Percy.

Nico had been struggling all summer not to let himself avoid Percy. For his part, Percy certainly made an effort not to be weird around Nico, which Nico appreciated, but there was just so much that had happened between them, even without Nico’s awkward crush. The thought of a good one-on-one chat with him felt almost too nerve-wracking to contemplate, at this point, even though Nico was long over him. Yet Bianca would probably tell him to go for it. During the short time before she had chosen rebirth, she had tried so hard to get Nico to help Percy, and forgive him. The whole point of this was for her anyway. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. He and Percy were on good terms at this point, Nico was pretty sure. And he had Jason, Reyna, and Hazel to defend him, who could all totally take Percy in a fight. Probably. He had nothing to worry about. It would be fine. 

Nico had to force his feet to move his body out of the door and toward the sword fighting ring where Percy should be finishing up training. 

He almost expected and somewhat hoped that he wouldn’t be able to find Percy without putting some hint of effort into that could be used as an excuse, but unfortunately, or probably fortunately, Percy was just walking out of the building as Nico approached. At first Nico just stood rooted there, trying to make himself walk up to Percy. It wasn’t like this was the first time they’d talked since his confession, but Nico still felt like he was fabricating awkwardness between them. The decision was made for him when Percy shouted an enthusiastic “HEY, NICO!” Across the expanse of road separating them.

Nothing left but to go for it. “Hey, Percy,” Nico said, smiling awkwardly and approaching.

“‘Sup, man?” Percy asked as he waved the younger campers goodnight.

“I, uh, was wondering if we could talk a bit.”

Percy seemed understandably surprised that Nico wanted to have a private chat, but enthusiastic nonetheless. “Sure! We can go down by the lake; everyone’s heading toward the bonfire now.”

“Alright.” Nico tried to suppress his natural awkwardness as they set off. Percy started babbling about sword practice.

“And I swear Tracy is going to beat me one of these days, and she’s only like thirteen. How does this happen? I guess I’m just too good a teacher.”

“Yeah what a burden,” Nico chuckled and Percy barked out a laugh.

Before he could start up again, Nico quickly added, “So, um, not to be depressing or anything but I wanted to mention Bianca…”

“Oh?” A bit of Percy’s steam seemed to sizzle out, but he quickly maintained the friendly attitude, which Nico was grateful for. He knew this was a sore subject between them. “What’s up?”

“Today’s her birthday.”

“Ah, I see.” Percy looked around and then stared up at the sky, spread his arms and said “Happy birthday, Bianca!”

Nico snorted and shook his head, but quietly murmured “Happy birthday” in agreement, since he realized that he hadn’t really wished her one yet.

“I just wanted to talk to someone who remembered her, because I realized that there aren’t really that many people alive who knew her.”

Percy shoved his hands into his pockets and smiled over at Nico. “You can totally talk to me! Bianca was awesome; I remember she was so nice all the time. And like, even though she wasn’t always sure how to take care of you, she cared about you more than anything.”

Nico nodded along as they started to approach the lake. “Yeah… there was one thing in particular that I kind of wanted to ask… I didn’t ask Thalia because she seemed pretty busy…” he trailed off once they reach the edge of the water. Percy sat down cross-legged on the ground and Nico joined him.

“Ask away, man.” He gave Nico an encouraging grin, even though it was clear that he was a little bit awkward about trying to be comforting. He did really seem willing to make the effort though, and Nico could definitely appreciate that.

“Do you think she would have… been okay with me?”

Percy’s brow furrowed. “‘Course, she would’ve been super proud, Nico.”

“I know in general but like…” Nico cast his eyes over the water, luminous in the sunset. “About me being, you know… liking guys. Because she was raised in the same time period I was and I never told her, I was too busy being ashamed.” He brought his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them, looking anywhere but at Percy. It felt weird to be talking about that with him, as he was the former object of Nico’s affections, but Nico just really wanted to talk to someone about it.

“Definitely,” replied Percy firmly, without hesitation. “I mean even if it was a little strange for her at first, she definitely would have accepted you, man. You were way more important to her than some societal standard about who people should  _ love _ .”

“Not important enough to keep her from running off to join the hunters of Artemis,” Nico muttered.

“Well she would still have been there for you, whenever you needed her, that was just something that she wanted to do, you know. If you had really asked, I bet she wouldn’t have.”

Nico sighed, but nodded slowly, still staring straight ahead.

“There’s like a zero--no a  _ negative  _ percent chance that she wouldn’t have accepted you,” Percy declared.

“That’s not how percentages work,” Nico responded with a smirk.

“Pshh, close enough. Who needs math anyway.”

Nico chuckled and finally let his knees go, leaning back on his hands. “I still miss her sometimes… but I do think I’m finally starting to move on.”

Percy grinned and nudged him. “You’re doing an awesome job.”

This made Nico smile and finally glance over to him. He could remember the time when a compliment like that from Percy would probably have turned him into a blushing mess. Now he could just appreciate that Percy no longer hated him. Then again, holding grudges wasn’t  _ Percy’s  _ fatal flaw.

“Do you ever have nightmares about Tartarus?” Nico suddenly asked. He had never once spoken to Percy or Annabeth about his time down there; he’d been trying his best to forget about it altogether. But the nightmares still wouldn’t cease, even when Nico was finally settling down and living aboveground. It was cutting into his sleep and making it difficult to really feel recovered from that last battle against Gaia. It hadn’t occurred to him to see if it was the experience of going down there, or just Nico’s tormented brain.

“Sometimes. You?” Percy responded, now looking a bit more solemn. 

“Sometimes I don’t… There are weeks when they won’t go away, though,” Nico replied softly. He’d had the dreams just two nights ago, and it seemed like there was never enough time to fully recover from them.

“I… can’t imagine having to face that alone. I would’ve died within 5 minutes if it weren’t for Annabeth, in that sea of depressing thoughts or whatever.”

Nico nodded. “I avoided swimming in that, luckily, but the other things… just Tartarus itself…” He shivered just remembering staring up at the terrible looming presence of Tartarus, that seemed to just suck all hope out of him.

“Yeah,” Percy agreed, his own gaze locked onto the ground as he reflected on his own experiences.

“Sorry to bring up all the depressing stuff, but I don’t really… have anyone else to talk to about it,” Nico awkwardly muttered, trying to shrug nonchalantly. It was true; Percy was the only one at camp who knew Bianca, and he and Annabeth were the only others to survive Tartarus. Nico could probably talk to Annabeth about that, but he figured this was killing two birds with one stone at least.

“Dude it’s totally cool. I’m glad you came to talk to me; I mean, I still feel bad about, um, stuff, but I’m here for you all the way.”

Nico grinned. “Thanks, but you don’t have to feel bad about anything. Nothing was anyone’s fault, except for what I brought on myself.”

“Speaking of payback, though. I have a question for you, too.”

“Yeah?” Nico raised his eyebrows at him.

“So you and Will huh?”

“Okay there is nothing between me and Will,” Nico immediately responded with a laugh.

“Oh really? Not what it looks like to me man, just saying. And you can’t blame me for grilling because you totally did that with me and Annabeth, all ‘is Annabeth your girlfriend?’ and everything.”

Nico snorted. “Yeah, but I was so right about that.”

“Not when you asked!” Percy retorted. “If you were right about that I bet I’m right about this.”

“No offense,” Nico began, grin already spreading, “but I’m not sure you’re really the guy to ask about who has crushes on who, given your past obliviousness.”

“Hey! I just… wasn’t paying attention.”

“Yeah, sure.” Nico rolled his eyes. “Whatever you say.”

“Well, you know what, Annabeth agrees with me, and she’s smart! So there.”

“She’s smart but is romance really her thing? This is different than architecture you know.”

“But I asked Jason to ask Piper and Jason said that Piper said that she agrees and she’s a daughter of Aphrodite so she has to know.” Percy had a defiantly smug look on his face, like he really got Nico with this one.

“Okay but I don’t even know if Will likes  _ guys,  _ not to mention there’s no reason for him to like me of all people.”

“Well ask him then,” Percy said simply. Nico just stared at him.  
“Yeah, no, not gonna happen.”

“Come on, why not?!”

“ _ Ugh _ ,” Nico groaned into his hands. “It’s so not that simple. What if I make it completely weird? Gods.”

“But I am correct in assuming, at least that you like Will,” Percy waggled his eyebrows. “Right? Ha, look who’s perceptive now.”

Nico sighed. “Oh, whatever. Honestly I’m not sure it’s even a crush, more like, if he asked… I mean I’m just so  _ done _ with pining over people.” Nico huffed. 

“Yeah, I can probably understand that…”

“But why am I getting love advice from  _ you _ of all people?”

“I’ll have you know that I am a master of romance! I mean look at all the people who’ve liked me right? Like there’s Annabeth, and Rachel that one time, and Calypso, and uh Reyna I think, and, I mean there’s you and all… huh I didn’t realize it was that many.” He seemed genuinely surprised and Nico had to smother his laugh with a hand. “Wow, I don’t even know why.”

Nico laid back and stretched out on the grass, looking up at the fast darkening sky. “Because you’re a hero. I mean the first time I met you, you saved my life, and I guess I was just a kid obsessed with mythology, and I mean, we’re all just a bunch of kids doing our best, but somehow you’ve always been sort of the main hero, the one who saves the day in the end…”

Nico trailed off as a blush was starting to creep back onto his face, remembering his old feelings for the dork sitting next to him. Even though he was starting to disconnect from all of that, part of it still rang true. “Plus, you’re not bad looking I guess.”

“Wow, thanks,” Percy said, laughing but still looking a bit thoughtful.

“We should probably change the subject before your ego gets out of control though.”

“Hey!” Percy gave Nico a playful punch in the shoulder that actually kind of hurt, because wow Percy had really learned how to pack a punch in all those years of training. “But yeah, I still think you should ask Will out. We’ve all been talking and we’re sure he’s into you. For real.”

“Please, no. There is no way that’s happening.”

“Aw, come on, you’d make an awesome couple.”

“Nope, too awkward.”

“Awkward is the first step to romance! It was awkward when I started dating Annabeth.”

Nico had to laugh at that. “I can imagine.”

As if on cue, she chose that moment to appear over the hill, calling out; “Percy?! That you? Campfire’s about to start. Oh, hey Nico!”

They turned around to face her, and Percy got to his feet, Nico close behind. “Hi, Annabeth,” Nico greeted and Percy turned to face him.

“You coming to campfire?” Percy grinned over at him, and Nico was hit with the realization that he had just survived an entire, long conversation with Percy, and it hadn’t even been that weird. He finally felt like he could, possibly, live being around Percy a bit more now. 

“Sure, why not.”

***

As usual, Nico sat with Will for campfire. It was probably the best seat in the house, really, because Will’s enthusiasm was unrivaled, and he purposefully tried to assert himself as life of the party every time. Part of it seemed to be to force Nico to get involved with the loud singing as well, despite Nico’s best efforts to remain silently observant. 

“Come on, Nico, you know this!” Will hollered as he jumped up to stand on the log they were seated on. “SING WITH ME!” And he started bellowing the song Black Socks of all things.

Nico just laughed at first, but Will stared at him determinedly and bent down to sing so close to Nico’s ears that Nico began to fear hearing loss. Defeated, Nico began to sing along. He pretty much always gave in when Will got that determined.

After forcing everyone to endure three rounds of that (Will even divided the campers in halves so that one would be singing “not yet, not yet” over and over while the other started the verse again), someone else stood up to initiate creepy story telling.

The third person to begin a scary story was Piper, who told one about about a pair of shoes, of all things, that would appear near people without explanation. Should they ignore the shoes, they would die the next day, and if they put the shoes on, they would control their minds. Somehow, despite everything Nico had faced in his life, the story started to make chills run down his spine. He began to feel jumpy, glancing around at all the pairs of shoes on everyone’s feet, and he wasn’t the only one. Everyone was either watching Piper with wide eyes or nervously glancing around at floor level. 

“And then, the little girl saw her mother standing there, a strange smile on her face and wearing a very old, worn pair of shoes…”

Nico felt his breath catch, and his heart genuinely speed up, even though the other two stories had barely affected him.

“Her body was found with chunks of flesh missing, and what looked suspiciously like bite marks, and her mother had disappeared…”

Nico suffered through the rest of the story along with everyone else, his skin crawling, until finally it was resolved when the police officer got so freaked out by the shoes she kept hearing about in reports that when she saw them, she threw them down a well and closed the top. 

“And there they remain, to this day, until someone has the misfortune of reopening that well…”

That was the end and everyone was shivering and staring around, a couple murmuring about how they had opened a well once. What a creepy story… Nico suddenly became aware of Will’s fingers clamped around his arm, nearly cutting off his circulation. 

“Well you clearly enjoyed that,” Nico joked.

“That was  _ terrifying _ . And awesome! I’m so leaving an old pair of shoes next to someone in my cabin tonight.”

Nico burst out laughing. “Oh gods, I feel sorry for your cabin mates. Wow, and I thought the kids of Apollo were supposed to be good at telling stories. Although, that reminds me…” He looked over at Piper, grinning at the people congratulating her (or scowling at her) for her story, a sudden realization striking him. “You know, the other stories barely even affected me but that one, I think she was using charmspeak to convince us to be scared.”

“You think?” Will’s eyes widened. “I didn’t even know it worked like that!”

“I think she can lace her words with it to inspire emotions and stuff…”

“Wow, that is so cheating! How am I supposed to follow that? I was so excited about my story, too.” Will crossed his arms agitatedly. 

“Ah well, we can’t all be winners.”

The rest of campfire was pretty fun, as everyone else’s horror stories just seemed comedic compared to Piper’s thrilling experience. When people got tired of those, they switched to poems and jokes, but at that point everyone was yawning and people were already starting to clear out. 

“Wanna get out of here? The fire’s starting to die down anywa-- aaay,” Will punctuated his statement with a yawn.

“Sure.” Nico stretched and stood up.

“I’ll walk you back to your cabin.”

They started out the walk in amicable silence, but Nico was starting to remember his conversation with Percy. He had insisted that there was no way he was going to ask Will if he was interested in guys, but who knows. In this day in age, it seemed like a bit less of a big deal, and Will already knew Nico was gay, so it wasn’t like Will was going to be offended, probably… and Percy did get a lot of people to like him, so maybe his secret to romance was actually being super blunt? But looking at Will, just opening his mouth and asking seemed so impossibly difficult…

Will broke the silence while Nico was still grappling with his nerves. “I’m still pissed that Piper cheated to make her story scarier, but I’m not gonna lie, it was pretty awesome. Don’t you think?”

“Yeah, I didn’t even think things like that would scare me anymore, but that was really something.”

“You’re saying that Nico di Angelo, nerves of steel, found that frightening?” Will wore a trademark shit-eating grin.

“Oh, shut up,” Nico laughed, giving him a playful shove. “Like you said, she cheated.”

“Uh  _ huh _ …” Will said, still grinning.

“By the way, I wanted to ask you something,” Nico suddenly forced out, before he could think about it.

“Yeah? What’s up?”

Oh gods, he couldn’t do this. Nope, nope, nope. Totally backing out. “Do you like guys?”

It felt like someone was holding a torch right up against his face. He was looking anywhere but at Will. Had that actually come out? Oh no, now it was going to be so awkward, what made him think this was a good idea…

“Yeah! What, I didn’t tell you? Huh, I thought I had. I’m bisexual.” Will sounded completely casual and cheerful, like it wasn’t a big deal at all. Nico had to resist allowing a sigh of relief to escape him. 

“Okay, cool just curious.” At this point, they had reached Nico’s cabin. “See you tomorrow, Will!” But as Nico reached to open the door, Will interrupted him.

“Wait! Uh, Nico?” As Nico looked back, now Will was awkwardly looking at the ground and tracing pebbles with his shoes. Oh no oh no oh no had Nico been reading it wrong? Was it awkward now?

“Um, yeah?” Nico’s voice felt shaky with nerves.

“So… you’re single, right?”

Not what Nico had expected. But now Nico felt his heart rate pick up even further for an entirely different reason. “Yes…?”

“And well, I mean, I’m single too.” For a moment Will just stared at him, and Nico stared back, and his heart was racing in his ears, and he felt his blush creeping up his neck. He was starting to get lightheaded. Was this really happening?

“All I’m saying is, uh…” Will shuffled his feet some more. “It… sounds like a party?”

And all at once, Nico burst out laughing, so hard his stomach hurt. He couldn’t even contain it, it was like all the nerves came crashing out in a damn, and he should probably answer but  _ gods _ , Will, what a way to phrase it.

Nico’s laughter had spread to Will was well, who looked embarrassed but laughed hard anyway. “Hey, I’ve never asked someone out before, okay?” He planted a palm on his own face, shaking his head.

Still laughing, but gripped by a sudden impulse, Nico launched forward and wrapped his arms around Will’s waist, burying his face in Will’s shoulder. Will’s arms were quick to wrap around Nico as well, and after a moment Nico’s laughter had almost died out.

“I am so taking this as a yes.”

And with that they were both laughing again, and this time clinging tightly to each other while they shook with mirth.

Nico grinned up at him, his face still very warm, and reflected on how he was feeling in this moment. Just a few short months ago, he could never have even imagined being happy again. And now here he was, just about as happy as he’d ever been, not just with Will, but in general, with everyone. 

As he finally said his goodbyes to Will, his new  _ boyfriend _ , wow, he thought about his earlier conversations.

Bianca would be glad. He was finally happy.


End file.
